Tangerine tree Organic Seeds (Cītrus reticulata)

Bright orange fruits, neat glossy leaves, graceful trunk - the tangerine tree looks just amazing. However, to enjoy its beauty, it is not at all necessary to travel to tropical countries.

You can grow such a tree with your own hands, right on the windowsill in an apartment or a country house. The case is small: choose the right materials for planting, and then provide proper care.

Preparation of the land and features of choosing a pot
Mandarin is a tree that does not tolerate acidic soil, so there should be no peat in the substrate. It is most convenient to buy a ready-made mixture in the store, which is marked with pH = 6.5-7 (this is how neutral soils are denoted). If you want to make the substrate yourself, then you need to mix:

It is advisable to plant seeds in small containers, for example, plastic cups, the volume of which is about 200 ml, are suitable. Moreover, their depth should be at least 7-9 centimeters. There must be drain holes at the bottom.

Planting seeds
When trying to grow any of the citrus fruits on your own, remember a simple rule: the faster the seed from the fruit gets into the soil, the greater the chance that it will sprout. Ideally, if you take out a pit from a mandarin fruit and immediately dig it into a previously prepared container with a substrate to a depth of 4 centimeters.

It also happens that it is not possible to plant seeds "right there". If they are a little dry, then before planting, you need to soak the seeds for a few days. This will speed up the process of their germination. The seeds should be "soaked" in a flat dish, wrapping the seeds in a damp cloth. It is permissible to place this container in a slightly opened plastic bag.
How quickly do mandarin seeds germinate?

It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of how long it will take for a tangerine seed to germinate. Under the most favorable conditions, the sprout hatches after 15 days, but most often it takes about a month. While waiting for a sprout, follow these simple rules:

    Pay close attention to soil moisture as well as ambient temperatures. Ideal if the room temperature is between +20 and +25 degrees Celsius.
    Placing seed pots in mini greenhouses is not recommended. Mandarins are distinguished by good seed germination, so germination in greenhouse conditions can play a cruel joke. Subsequently, the plant will have to be adapted "from scratch" to indoor conditions, which is quite difficult.



How to transplant tangerine tree seedlings?
There are several options:

    If several tangerine seeds are planted in one container, then when the first four leaves appear, you need to "distribute" them into separate pots. In this case, the most powerful and "strong" specimens should be chosen, and the deformed and weak ones can be rejected.
    For citrus plants, multi-embryonic seeds are quite common. Therefore, two sprouts can appear from one tangerine seed at once. In such a situation, there are two options: you can pinch a weaker plant or plant the sprouts in different containers (in the overwhelming majority of cases, each of them has its own root system).


After the roots of young plants occupy the volume of the cup or pot as a whole, you need to transplant into a more spacious one. However, you should not immediately choose pots of a very large volume, since in this case there is a high probability of waterlogging of the earthy coma, which will stress the plant.

Already matured, albeit small, tangerine trees are transplanted once a year. When the plant begins to bear fruit, the transplanting frequency is reduced to once every 2-3 years, while each time the diameter of the pot is increased by 4-6 centimeters (and with an annual transplant - by 1 cm). Adults and large specimens do not need to be transplanted; such tangerine trees only renew the top layer of soil in the pot.

Tangerine tree care at home
The tangerine tree requires careful maintenance, the main points of which are:

    Indoor temperature in summer 20 ° C-25 ° C. On warm days, the plant can be taken out into the open air, but at night it is better to bring it into the house so that the tree does not freeze. In winter, the optimum temperature is 5 ° -10 ° C.
    Adequate lighting. The tree is not afraid of direct sunlight. Lack of light affects the growth of the tree, and its leaves become small and fall off.
    Mandarin requires frequent watering - in the summer, several times a day. Moreover, in winter, this is done less often - 3-4 times a week.